The Wii doesn’t have much in terms of first-person shooters, and the ones that exist are certainly of poor quality in terms of effort from the developers and what the system itself is capable of. The EA-published Medal of Honor Heroes 2 has hit the Wii in hopes of changing that. The title is set in the WWII era, not only making this the third WWII FPS the system has seen, but the second under the Medal of Honor license that we’ve seen in this year. The previous installment, Medal of Honor: Vanguard, really suffered from muddy visuals, inconsistent AI, and somewhat passable control. Does this leap into the fray result in a heroic victory, or does Heroes 2 suffer the same wounds as before?

The Heroes spin-offs, while set in WWII, certainly don’t follow history word-for-word. Heroes 2 puts you in the role of a nameless O.S.S. agent who needs to infiltrate numerous bases and facilities to retrieve various information in very special-ops-like fashion. The story places you right near the end of the war. Hitler, knowing his defeat is at hand, has been rumoured to have a secret weapon which could turn the tides of the war. Your job is to uncover his secret by following a bread-trail of clues leading you to the truth. The story ends up sounding much more interesting than it is. This is simply because the story is only briefly touched on. This ends up being a real shame because the concept really had the potential of providing a great plot, but the narrative is instead pushed to the side, only mentioned in-between missions. Interaction and development of other troops fighting alongside you is diminished, so the action is really all this game is about.

Now while not a phenomenal FPS, where Medal of Honor Heroes 2 really shines is in the controls. Now back in September, I praised Metroid Prime 3 for its controls. They were smooth, fast, incredibly slick, and I claimed them to be the best first-person control on a console. While Metroid put up an amazing fight, Heroes 2 has taken that title for its own. The sheer amount of options here really allow for you to customize the sensitivity of the control to fit your exact need. When set to max on almost all settings, the turning-speed was so fast that it almost became impossible to control. At last, a third-party developer knows how to do it right.

As for the actual button-scheme, the controls are fairly well organized. The B-trigger is used to fire, the A-button is used for looking down the sight of your gun, and the various directions on the D-pad are used for changing weapons, reloading, and crouching. It’s actually very similar to the scheme used in Vanguard, but feels a bit more refined, and a bit tighter.

Another aspect that Heroes 2 really tries at is effectively using the Wii’s motion controls. There’s a lot of interesting functionality used here, even just for little things. For example, when in gunsight mode, tilting the nunchuk left or right will allow you to lean from side to side. Another nice gesture is the ability to reload your gun with a simple shake of the controller. This can be done with ‘up’ on the D-pad, but this allows you to keep your hands comfortably remaining on the controller. Twisting the remote to the side can either allow you to zoom in or out with a sniper rifle, turn the knob on a radio as you try and pick up specific frequencies, or plant explosive in pre-determined spots throughout your missions. You’ll need to make a throwing motion when tossing a grenade, and one of the most interesting of all is hoisting the Wii-mote over your shoulder like your rocket launcher as you aim with the control stick. All of these work, and they actually work well. While certainly not perfect, they actually provide a bit more of an immersive and interesting experience than others in the genre.

But the rest of the gameplay isn’t as solid. The entire single player campaign will last about 8 missions total. They will take you to a good deal of places, from dock-side facilities, ruined cities, to dank, dark sewers. Ultimately, however, they all end up feeling fairly similar, and quite linear. But they’re interesting, specifically the city-based missions, as you crawl through houses, or climb piles of rubble to get to a ledge etc. But unfortunately, they sometimes end up looking too similar for their own good. While there’s a decent amount of detail here, the individual missions can still sometimes feel a bit monotonous, and can end up feeling like they’re dragging for too long without doing anything too interesting.

Now each mission can take a good deal of time. They can go anywhere from 20 minutes to as long as an hour. Not necessarily due to their actual length, but the fact that the AI can sometimes be so unfair that you’ll die constantly, having to try over and over again. The actual AI isn’t exactly that great. It’s fairly typical. But the enemies are far too accurate. Your comrades certainly don’t help even things out, and they’re likely going to die very quickly in comparison to your foes. A couple head shots will most certainly take your foes down. But if you can manage to actually get two in without them sniping you from a hundred feet away is the real question. Note that this is on the Normal setting. The ‘Green’ setting (which is kinda insulting, isn’t it?) is far fairer, but can still provide some challenge. Part of this is due to the fact that you can lock-on to your opponents Metroid-style with the C-button. But only on the easy setting. Anyways, the game thankfully (I suppose) allows you to heal fairly quickly if you just stay out of the fray for a few seconds, and checkpoints are fairly well dispersed. A bit far apart for less-experienced players, but manageable.

There are a few weird things about the game. For one, enemies will continuously spawn if you don’t do anything. You can kill as many guys as you could possibly want if you just camp outside their spawning points. Also, all the ammunition that you find lying around will simply fit whatever gun you happen to have with you. It really doesn’t make much sense, but it’s really no big deal. Ultimately, none of this really has too big of an affect on the action. They’re just strange points that should have been rethought a bit. One thing that could have really helped the action though, is if the environments were actually destructible. There are plenty of fuel tanks etc. lying around, so why can’t any of these just blow up? That would be awesome. The inability to do this ends up making the action feel a little stale.

If the regular campaign is still too challenging though, you can always try the Arcade mode - an on-rails light-gun-esque game similar to Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles or Ghost Squad. You are actually dragged through all the regular single-player missions, except just through a different experience. The mode is fun, and it certainly helps people who wouldn’t enjoy the actual FPS experience to have a good time with Heroes 2. It’s not the best on-rails game the Wii has right now, but it’s solid. What makes it questionable, though, is why the mode is a single-player-only experience. It wouldn’t have hurt if EA just let you pick up a second remote and nunchuk and have a little arcade action.

One of the biggest draws to some people is going to be the little logo on the box. The blue circle in the top corner that can make plenty of people widen their eyes as they say “Oh really?” That would be the symbol which implies that the game uses Nintendo Wi-fi Connection to allow for online multiplayer. Medal of Honor Heroes 2 boasts a 32-player online experience. The online modes include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Infiltration (which is really just Capture the Flag). 32-players online… sounds great doesn’t it? But here’s the problem - it doesn’t use Wi-Fi Connection. Instead, the game connects online through EA Nation, EA’s online service. And it plays wonderfully. It plays smooth, it’s fast, and really intense, especially with more players. There are some sacrifices made to the presentation (some lower-res textures etc.) in order to keep the game running at a solid 60 frames per second, but you’re not really paying attention when shooting other players in the head. The online experience is just great… when it works. EA Nation is notorious for having numerous connection issues. It’s rare that you’ll be able to connect to a game and not get instantly disconnected. In actuality, I’ve tried connecting to games about 50 times. About 8 have been successful. It’s great that you don’t have to add friend codes to add people to your friends list, but as much as I hate to say it, I would rather have those and an online experience that is ultimately more reliable than one that rarely even allows me to play online. However, as I search around the internet, it seems that there are mixed results for people using the service. As long as you have a really strong signal, you should be fine, but otherwise, you’ll be very frustrated trying to get this to work.

One of the big lacking factors of the online however, isn’t just the connection issues, but the lack of a headset. This isn’t a knock against the game, but a point that needs to be brought up, and with Nintendo most of all. As much as they can try to protect us as gamers, trash-talk has always been part of the fun when playing multiplayer. Whether it be in fighting games, shooters, or racing games. Whenever we’re playing together, that’s part of the real fun. So for those reading this review who agree with this point, please voice (no pun intended) your complaints to Nintendo, and demand that they get something out there for the consumers.

Anyways, one of the interesting things is that all three modes of gameplay, the campaign, arcade mode, and online, are all playable with not just the Wii-mote and nunchuk, but they all allow the ability to play with the Wii Zapper. This is mostly to cater to the casual crowd, and people who want to feel like their “in the game”. Personally though, it’s fairly useless. Using the peripheral feels fairly inaccurate and clunky, and you’re likely to be better off playing with just the Wii-mote and nunchuk instead. The inclusion of the feature is pretty need, especially for the Arcade mode, but it really isn’t going to mean anything for most.

While not a spectacular looking game by any means, Medal of Honor Heroes 2 still looks pretty good. There’s a real overdose of bloom lighting here. It looks kinda cool, but it just starts going overboard after a while, and in the end, it gives everything the same effect. There’s still a lot of blocky objects lying around, and some of the textures are really stretched. There are some cool effects here though. Some instances, the lighting looks really nice, bullets in the wall will stay there, and there are some neat particle effects. The levels have some great details in the houses, there are some nice looking compositions, and most of the levels have a solid atmosphere. This definitely doesn’t look like the PSP version. It looks far better, but it certainly isn’t up there with something like Zelda or Metroid or anything. It looks like a WWII shooter, but still, they could have really pushed the technology further. One real positive is that there is virtually no slow-down. The game remains at a solid 60 frames per second, and there’s plenty of action on-screen. Heroes 2’s visual aspects may be flawed when each detail is inspected, with some sections looking better than others. Much like a painting in its own way. But like a painting, when one stands back, when you take the entire image in as a whole, the entire presentation works together, and each detail works with one another to in fact make something that really looks good.

The game also sounds good. The sound effects have a real ‘umph’ to them, everything sounds really clear, the voice acting is great, and as always, the soundtrack is excellent. It’s as simple as that. There’s a nice ambiance when you hear chaos echo through the city as you sneak down an empty street, or an eerie silence as you creep through a house, expecting someone to be waiting for you around the corner. And when in a fight, the shouts of your allies and your foes as explosions and gunshots ring in your ears all create a great chaotic atmosphere. Your allies will constantly comment on your ability to take out the enemy, shouting phrases like “Hey, save some for us!” or “Nice shot!”. The voices are clear, and well done. And actually, kinda help make you feel a bit more like a badass. The game even tries to use the remote’s speaker. It’s as clear as it can be with a speaker that’s not much better than one found on the DS. But nevertheless, it’s a neat little detail.

When thinking of everything this game does - the sound, the campaign, the visuals, etc., each of those areas is flawed. Whether they be major or minor, they all do something weird, or all have some negative trait. But as I said with the visuals, when you step back and take everything in and see how everything works together, you are actually presented with a really good game. Despite its faults, it’s fun, it’s archaic, and it’s loaded with features. The single player is decently long, and after that, there’s still the arcade version. After that, there’s still a huge list of achievements (presented as medals) for you to unlock. And on top of that is the online multiplayer! EA really put a good deal of effort into this title, and it shows. For gamers who’ve been waiting for a solid FPS on Wii, this is your game. While not without its flaws, Medal of Honor Heroes 2 really shines as the best FPS title the console has seen thus far. Yes, it’s a WWII shooter, and that’s going to get plenty of people turned off. But it’s solid. Perhaps next time, with more polish, and focusing their time on a strictly Wii version, EA could really utilize this system to fully benefit the game. But for now, this will most certainly do.

SCORE: 7.9/10